Chapter 12: I bet this is the ending

“Since when," he asked, 
"Are the first line and last line of any poem 
Where the poem begins and ends?” 
― Seamus Heaney 

 I bet this is the ending

Opens with a song from the band Betting on The End, Serpent of Light.  

Jetson held the boulder over Rick and continued to laugh and throw smaller rocks willy-nilly; his lead general Elroy yelled, “Hey, watch it, man!”   

Another general yelled, “You're killing us!”   

“Shut up, it's all Rick’s fault!” Jetson yelled, then laughed maniacally and threw the boulder.   

Mandy expected Rick to dice the boulder up and destroy it, but it fell and smashed into the corner, covering the tunnel, so she was stuck.   

She gasped and whimpered, “Oh, no. Rick...”  

She clapped her hands and made sparks to light up the tunnel and re-ignite the torches on the walls. She used her scream, but the rock was hard and wouldn't even chip.  She ran to Brock Heller’s cave to check on the old man.   

She paced out in front of his door and whispered to herself.  

“We’re trapped... We’re Trapped....”  

The thick wooden door opened slowly; the layers of the grains in the wood sliding past the firelight almost made her dizzy.   

“We have air, we have water to live a lifetime. We will be ok, love.” Croaked Brock.  

The mountain rumbled and shook, and booms echoed through the stone.   

“Come inside but have faith.”  

“I'm scared, Grandpa... Rick was trapped in a corner when I saw him last...”  

“I’ll have faith for the both of us then.”  

He gently guided her into his house and made tea while they talked and listened to the horrible noises and booms coming from the fight. Mandy held onto Brock, and he whispered.   

“It does sound scary... But we’ve been through so much worse, my love. I promise, if you can smile in moments like these, then nothing can hurt you.”  

Her breathing returned to normal; she didn't let go through. She held onto him like it might be the last time.  

He kissed the top of her head.  

Back to Rick  

Rick walked out of the silhouette he cut into the boulder, the cutout still hung in the air, and he threw it at Jetson’s right-hand man. He barely dodged it, and the man he was fighting almost stabbed him. He dodged, and their swords clashed, causing sparks. The crossed swords were at a standstill. He looked back, and Rick smiled.  

“Why didn't you just cut the boulder up? Your silhouette looks like a lollypop cause your fat head.”  

Rick laughed.  

Jetsons’ face turned red, and he powered up another AOE attack.   

Elroy grabbed the generals who were still alive and escaped, leaving Rick and Jetson standing in inches of blood, inches of blood that splashed around in the wind caused by Jetson’s attack, powering up.  

Id, Rome, and Merick made it to the mountain just in time to head off the generals that were fleeing. They all slid to a stop and stood looking at each other. A breeze picked up, and their clothing waved in the wind.  

“Looks like we've got a Mexican standoff.” Id rubbed his nose and stared intently.  

“It’s four versus two... We outnumber you.”  

Roma and Merick smiled and said, “Good,” in unison.   

“We will let you go if you run away, right now,” Elroy laughed   

“You killed our friends, you're gonna have to kill us too because we are not backing down.” Elroy turned quickly to see Blase coming from the west.  

“We still got an extra guy, so bring it!” Elroy shouted and started shooting at Roma and Meric.  

Meric dodged the bullets like they were nothing, then charged at Elroy.  

A woman ran up fast and swung at Merik, who dodged her sword mid-stride. Elroy aimed at where he would dodge, making him dip all the way to the ground, barely missing the bullet. Roma kicked her hard in the back, and she flew but caught herself. She stood in-between Elroy and Meric, “You're in my way, Tori!” Elroy yelled and then took aim at Roma instead.  

The two other enemies attacked Blase at the same time to overwhelm him, but he shot with both pistols to split them up long enough for Roma to attack Pazzu, even with the element of surprise, he deftly dodged Roma’s saber and slashed back with his bladed brass knuckles. Roma was definitely faster, but his opponents' dodge speed was astronomical. His attack speed was nothing to brag about Roma thought, as he was appraising his enemy. He saw a bullet getting closer to his head, so he juked an attack, then barely turned his head and dodged the bullet.   

Meric was caught off guard and flew past Roma. Tori ran past him and took a swing, but he dodged. She looked back forward, and Meric was in her face with a punch to the gut. She gasped, but it didn't slow her down one bit. She was different than the other bad guys, he could tell. She knelt on the ground and looked up at him helplessly, but he didn't hesitate and kicked her in the face so hard she flew through a pile of bodies. Arms and legs flew as she crashed through, then she skidded to a stop and didn't move.  

The odds changed, and it made Ron nervous. He stopped pouncing at Blase and said,   

“Nooo, Tori! Not loose! I kill you!” and he paced back and forth, getting filled with more and more rage, then began growling.   

Elroy shouted, “Keep it together, Ron!”  

“That's not my name! Call me my name right!”  

“Ron Savage, the super psycho, keep it together, don't go berserk yet, you will kill us too.”  

“Who are you?” He growled a laugh, injecting two syringes into his neck; his eyes went into the back of his head.   

“Crap! Crap!!” Elroy shouted.  

Id flew in at top speed and slapped Elroy across the face. Cin appeared behind  Pazzu and kicked him in the back, catching him by complete surprise. Roma cut a hole through his chest and dismembered him before he realized what had happened. His body fell apart piece by piece into a pile.  

Ron, the super savage psycho, punched Cin, breaking his arm and damaging his legs so he couldn't move. Blase and Elroy shot him together, but their bullets didn't do anything.   

Elroy looked at Roma and begged, “Let's get out of here... I will let you arrest me, and I'll do whatever you want. I don't want to die anymore. I just want to make the world a better place, and I believed in our cause even if we have a few flaws...”  

“Flaws! Cannibalism isn't a flaw...” Roma shouted as a huge wave of dirt flew at them. Ron smashed everything that moved.  

“Jetsen killed my village and forced me to be one of them; I never ate people... I promise.”   

“Ok, Elroy, but you're going to help us now, and you’re still going to jail and will face questioning... and we’re not running away but strategically retreating to watch from further away, I still have a long rifle.”  

Id found Tori lying unconscious, so he picked her up and went to where Blase was scaring Elroy, who was a nervous wreck.   

Meric was punched, and he flew over Blase, so Id jumped into the air to catch him, then swung him around using his inertia to launch him back at Ron who was throwing rocks at Roma, so his back was turned.   

Meric stabbed him through the arm; his arm oozed green from the wound, and he laughed.  

Ron flexed his massive arm and bounced Meric off his arm.   

“He’s getting bigger,” Roma said.  

Meric nodded in agreement.   

They signaled a plan to each other as Ron lunged at Roma. He dodged, but Ron got faster and faster with each dodge and change of direction. They took turns leading him around while the other was setting up spider wire across buildings and boxed him in on all sides. Then ran over the top of the wire.   

The wire snagged his arm and wrapped around it, slicing it to shreds, but it couldn't cut through his bone. The meat on his arm sagged and flopped around, but he kept laughing, then screaming in rage like he didn't even notice.   

He got even faster. He caught Roma and pulled his arm off, then threw him next to his arm.  

Ron attacked Meric, and he dodged, but he was at his limit. His speed increased even still, but it didn't look good for him if he couldn't attack. Blase shot him in the open arm wound with his sniper, but it didn't even make him flinch. Id came in and distracted him, but he was so fast he attacked them both. The meat was ripped off his arm from the force of his attacks, so it was just bone with a fist attached and covered in green ooze.   

The kept dodging, but Ron’s speed never faltered. Id hoped he would bleed out and get slower, but he had the evil zombie power.   

Roma hid and made a Tourniquet for his nub, then grabbed his arm and ran to Blase.   

As he tossed it, he said, “don't use this as a back scratcher.” Then ran back to the fight.  

“No, no, no don't thro... ahhh. Nasty.” Blase said as he caught it.  

Meric ran his enemy back into the spider wires and skinned his face half off. Ron kept laughing the whole time and got even faster. He punched Meric, launching him into the mountain. He stood, then held his side, but he ran back into the fight. Roma and Meric were able to distract him but kept flying away, then coming right back to the fight. Id attacked, but his hits didn't affect anything.   

“Remember the cannibal crusades Id! The explodia enemy remember! Do it!”  

Id made a handful of bombs from his materials in his satchel   

“Ok.”  

Then Id threw them one by one down Ron’s throat. They didn't blow a hole into him until the final bomb that exploded his guts, but it made him even faster till he moved so fast he even gave Id a run for his money.   

Id drew him away from the group and stopped behind a mountain. Ron closed in on him, but Id just stood there. At the last second, he shoved a larger bomb into Ron’s gut and then ran.  

It exploded into a huge fireball; Id stayed on the outside of the shockwave and fire until it dissipated, then ran back in to check. The smoke filled the area so he could only see clumps of green guts, black stuff, and some body parts that were strewn about.  

Only the top quarter and one arm remained on Ron, and he still tried to fight. He used the one arm to pull himself across the ground; Roma and Meric came running and saw.   

“He’s persistent, I'll give em that,” Blase said as he ran up. He inspected Roma’s arm, but Roma didn't want him to.   

Id dressed his wound and applied medicine before Roma even realized what had happened.  

Explosions rang out from the mountain, making borders fall down. “Oh, Rick. Be careful...” Id said aloud.  

Roma laughed and said, “Hey, Meric, remember when we first saw Rick? We were pinned down by the cannibals; we were protecting a group of civilians and soldiers. We were losing ground, but Rick came through. His armor doused in blood, not carrying a single weapon.”  

Meric smiled and said, “We heard stories of a captain who could kill with his voice, but seeing it for the first time was incredible.”  

“He can do it, you can see he truly believes in God by his smallest actions.”  

Id cut in and said, “He did like to call me a faggot, but not everyone is perfect.”  

“To be fair, you are pretty annoying Id” they all laughed.   

“Id, fall back and get these people to Hope City, we will keep an eye out here. All we can do now is hope and pray and watch.” Smoke billowed out of the tunnels. The top of the mountain rose into the air, and they all looked at it in amazement. The smoke rose from the hole in the top of the mountain.   

Back to Rick again 

There were deep gashes all over the cave walls and ceiling. Everyone who could escape was out, so Rick was finally letting loose. The bodies that littered the ground were turned into paste. There was still a lake of blood, so Rick hovered over it.  

They both let loose a volley of attacks that exploded as they made contact or deflected off each other and hit the walls. Smoke and rubble swirled and were forced through the tunnels, and it billowed out into the sky.  

“I'm done playing Rick... Jetson pulled out two syringes and injected them both into his neck at the same time. He screamed in pain, then began to laugh.  

Attacks came from every direction nonstop; Ricks' barrio was visible in the storm of the chaos; his immediate surroundings were clear. A haze filled the chamber, and boulders started to fall.   

Jetson was fast; he appeared in front of Rick and hit him with an up-close attack, but his Bario caught it and shrank a little, but went back to normal size. Jetson tried to overwhelm him, but his barrio was too strong, so he started hitting the ceiling to cave it in on Rick. Then he threw the mountain top back down and caved in the side Rick was on. He cut through it as he ran from the huge landslide coming down.   

Rick threw rocks at Jetson, but they were evenly matched.  

“I must do something different,” Rick thought and looked around.   

Both of their barriers light up as rocks and debris hit them.   

“Rick, you can't win. I have the super soldier serum. No one can stand before my power!”   

Rick ignores him and continues to think of strategies.   

“You care about stupid babies; you have that retarded dream where you like ‘Oh no... a dead baby’ Boo freakin whoooo. You are weak because you care! Men are cattle and should be treated like it.’   

“You do care about things, Jetson. You only care for yourself and the short term...  You are divided by your love of evil. We are brought together because we struggle to do good and help each other in love, and it spurs us on. All you have is endless emptiness.”  

Jetson laughs and says, “Don't lecture me... You think you’re the second coming, huh?” And laughs even harder.  

“No, I live my life in a way that Jesus might say I did a good job…”  

Cin crawls in through a tunnel and shoots Jetson with his Lazer cannon, but Jetson blocks it with boulders.  

“Humble yourself in the sight of the lord” is sung by a choir that starts echoing through Rick’s mind, Jetson’s maniacal laugh fades away, and the booms from rocks hitting his barrio fade away.   

Rick walks through the dream he had every night and sees the family he saved. The house is cleaned and fixed up; their kids are running around the yard laughing and playing. They yell “mama!” and she walks out holding a new baby, and he laughs. The baby's laugh echoes through Rick’s mind instead of its screaming. His vision happens in a flash, the all the sound returns.  

The mountain began to shake so badly that it was like an earthquake. Rick rises into the air and cuts the base of the mountain, and it lifts into the air. Rocks and boulders surrounded the lift into the air, and lightning hit Jetson repeatedly, and he screamed.   

Rick cut out a millstone and stuck it over Jetson’s head and trapped him in it, then buried him in the rubble lifted with the mountain.   

“And he will lift you up.” The choir comes to a crescendo.   

A feeling like a vacuum, then a sonic boom exploded out, and the mountain flew up, breaking orbit and hit the moon, causing a huge crater and pock marks across the whole surface of the moon.   

Rick begins to fall, but Id runs in and catches him. “Hi,” Rick said, but he wasn't looking at Id, he was looking past him. Id looked around and didn’t see anyone.  

“Hi, Rick. You did it!”   

But Rick ignored him and stared into space, and gave a thumbs up.   

“Thank you, Jesus,” and he waved bye, then passed out.   

“Is Jesus over there, Rick?” Id shook him again, then said, “I want to meet him, Rick. Where is he?” But Rick was out like a light.  

Old man Brock and Mandy felt the shaking and heard the woosh and looked at each other uneasily, then opened the door. They looked out and saw sunlight and were amazed to find the cave wasn't a cave anymore. The mountain was barely cut about Brock's roof.  

“The mountains are gone.” Croaked Brock.   

“Ya.” Said Mandy. He held her tiny hand, and they looked around.  

They heard a noise behind them and looked and saw a cannibal running at them, and she let out a shriek that blew Brocks's house away, and the cannibal disintegrated.   

“We’ll that was unexpected,” Brock chuckled.  

“Oh no, sorry, grandpa!”  

“Easy come, easy go.”   

They found their way out of the mountain rubble and met up with Roma and Meric. She saw he was missing an arm, so she suggested turning him into a zombie, then reattaching the arm then giving him the cure.  

He reluctantly agreed, “I can live without it, but that was a pretty sweet arm.”   

They all met in Hope City and stayed for months, and helped rebuild, and when they were finished, The whole Town threw a celebration and invited all the towns.

The president of the union was there with all the leaders of each city and small town. Many of them hated each other, but they all celebrated together that day.   

Blase, Roma, Meric, and Cin all sat together and drank the finest beer they've ever tasted, Natty Light. (Not an advertisement, I just drink it, and I thought it would be funny to say.)  

Cin was all fixed up; Duncan fabricated a new body for Cin with upgrades so he could fly better and with a bigger library of knowledge.

Elroy and Tori were there, but still on probation for so they were under strict guard. Once they got to know the townsfolk, they were like different people. They helped rebuild multiple towns and saved thousands of people within a very short time, so they were given extreme leniency, but they knew they’d be stuck to the wall if they stepped out of line. Rick made sure they knew it as often as he could.    

The president stood at the podium and tapped the mic; everyone quieted down and listened.   

“Thank you all for your sacrifices and hard work. Many heroes were made that fateful day, and many heroes died. We must look to God for guidance, and he set borders and boundaries in their places.   

Many people work to undermine the borders and boundaries that are in place. They try to alter them... Some do it on purpose and some do it by accident, but one thing is for sure... This cannot happen again. We have the constitution from an ancient country called The United States of America. It's a wonderful document; it was inspired by the man known as Jesus the Christ. You might have heard of him. He’s kind of a big deal; everybody says it, I say it.   

Borders and boundaries aren't just physical, you know. He came and set boundaries for the soul of man; we must listen to him and the men who came before us and use our best judgment. That is why I am proposing to have a unified continent. We do NOT have to agree on everything, but we do have to work together, and we can do that by voting and being active in our respective communities. We do not have to hide away in our caves and houses; Together we can make our land great again!”   

The orange president from the union gives Rick a thumbs up, and a man with a beard wearing a robe shakes hands with the president and looks at Rick, and they both give him a thumbs up, and they all live relatively happy lives after. Some days are tough still, though, but they make it by.  

Tha end  

(That's the end of this book... Or perhaps this end is just the beginning of something else. Whatever happens, hopefully, my writing improves drastically.)  

P.S. All angels live like kings because of God, and all men can live like kings because Jesus is God. He is the king of the Jews. To the people who do not believe in Jesus, I say all gods to us are wood and stone, so we do not judge you by your religion, ethnicity, or region of the world. We can only judge by actions. That’s the way it’s always been since the beginning, so I pray we can all agree on what is detrimental to society and leave each other alone when it comes to personal opinions.

Jesus was always supposed to found America so the Jewish people could be saved.  They might have rejected him at first, but little did they know how much he truly cares for his people... (Kinda like when the patriarchs were saved by the brother who they sold into slavery.)